Since
that eventful day - captured on a video that I have watched, my hand
frequently and instinctively covering my mouth as the contents served
to shock me - Michael has upped the pressure and is a passionate campaigner against police injustice. And I support him.

I
have no intention of writing a rant in the style of 'all police are
rubbish/bigots/thugs' – choose your invective - but something is
definitely and unquestionably rotten within the ranks of Her
Majesty's Constabulary.

We
all know it and no number of apologies or portrayals of police as heroes can change that. And yet, still, we are slow to overhaul our forces of law and order. It's as if the full acknowledgement of the problem, and the task involved to rectify it, makes
insecure our very presence of this here island.

And
so it is left to people like Michael Doherty to fight the system, and
at immense personal cost, but they carry on regardless because they are confident in
the belief that the truth will come out in the end.

Just
as it did last week when we witnessed the true horror that took place
at a football match in Hillsborough over 23 years ago.

Once
again, the hidden problems within our police forces were blown wide
open and the image to emerge was ugly and left all those involved tainted by it.

The Hillsborough Report revealed a gross miscarriage of justice against 96 dead loved ones and the
acute pain that was left behind them.

Its publishing is a
testament to all those who have fought long and hard to get justice for their loved ones - and against a system that conspired to prevent the truth from being told.

This
time it was the police force of South Yorkshire who were exposed as
the purveyors of a deeply intertwined - and Margaret
Thatcher-sanctioned - series of deliberate distortions in the
eighties.

Police officers created and spread lies and slurs against dead people in an
attempt to shift, and consequently escape, blame for their role in the tragedy.

The
sheer scale of SYP's corruption – including the now West Yorkshire
police chief, Sir Norman Bettinson, himself currently subject to an investigation
of the eternally-hopeless Independent Police Complaints Commission - was laid bare for all to see.

Not
that a police force failing to protect its people is
peculiar to South Yorkshire Police. Problems inherent within Her
Majesty's system are not restricted to regional location.

This
was again emphasised following the recent ruling of PC Simon Harwood, found not guilty of the killing of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson
in 2009 during the G20 protests in the City of London.

On the evening of that verdict, unhappy crowds, incensed and bewildered by the decision, gathered outside New Scotland Yard and demanded justice
for Mr. Tomlinson and other victims of police treatment.

One sign proclaimed: '1433 people have died
following contact with police since 1990. Zero police officers have
been convicted.'

And
therein lies a serious grievance. One that anti-police corruption
groups up and down the country are screaming about long and loud -
and are failing to have their anger taken as seriously as it should
be.

What
we actually get when these cases are revealed, and mostly shown to be
as something of an isolated incident, is a sop. A metaphorical smacked wrist, here and
there. If that.

For those aggrieved by their police handling, what remains is a deep sense of injustice and persistent question marks over the acts that have taken place. The
net result being unimaginable pain for those involved.
And justice, increasingly, is not served.

These
cases include, but are certainly not limited to, the high profile
deaths of musician Smiley Culture - bizarrely found to have 'stabbed
himself' during an arrest by police in his home - and Tottenham man
Mark Duggan.

Mr Duggan's shooting by police marked the start of the UK
riots in August 2011. The circumstances of his death remain hideously unclear. This was a man who, according to the IPCC, had a gun one
minute and then didn't when the final verdict came through.

On
a visceral level we know that some police forces are continuing to fail institutionally. We've known it for years. Report after
report confirms this.

From
McPherson's inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence to Levenson's into
media and police corruption, we know, categorically, that there
are many aspects of our police force that display a far from
model-like behaviour towards the people they are supposed to protect.

Let
us not forget, the constabulary has been shown to be a place where
proven thugs like Simon Harwood are allowed on the front-line
despite revealing previously troubling form.

Fact
is, the police force is a mess of human weaknesses because it's
staffed by humans and, as we all know, we're fallible.

I'm
a people observer and I find it makes sense to factor human nature into
any equation that involves people.

We
don't arrive at our workplace value-free. We don't remove our
attitudes and behaviour, as if they are coats and gloves, when we
walk through the door into our professional life.

All
that baggage, good and bad, comes with us. As it did with Simon
Harwood and other police personnel, who have been caught
short and found seriously wanting.

So it comes as something of a surprise to the system to learn, today, that PC Simon Harwood may finally be relieved of his duties. He has been found guilty of gross misconduct, not manslaugher, and, quite wrongly, he will still receive his police pension.

In reality, sections
of the police force have conspired against the public for years. It's
one of the reasons that Stephen Lawrence's killers were able to get
away with his murder for so long.

Yes,
of course, there are decent police - I am personally acquainted with several them. I feel deeply sorry for my police friends.
They entered the force to, quite literally, 'serve and protect' and
they have been let down by criminality within the system. Tarred with
a brush that makes their daily work a whole lot harder to carry out.

So,
yes, there are clear problems within our police system and the more
that is exposed, frankly, the better. But, to paraphrase the famous
expression, justice must not only be done but be seen to be done,
too.

Our
country needs a police service - that's right, a service - that holds dear the notion that its first duty, above all else, is to protect its people.
The question is, who is going to protect us from them in the
meantime?

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SONIA POULTON

Sonia Poulton is a journalist, broadcaster and mum. She is fascinated by human interest, social issues, psychological matter and cultural phenomena.
As a former music journalist she media tutored and named The Spice Girls and she recently completed a Psychology degree ("because I wanted to understand myself more"). Sonia is a amateur astrologer who enjoys being thrashed at squash by her teen daughter, dancing to pop videos, helping a local wildlife rescue centre and walking her West Highland Terrier, Bliss in the Cotswold countryside. Her long-lost brother and sister recently found her on Facebook. She deplores laziness, procrastination, bad manners, bigotry and PC-behaviour. She is inspired by human kindness.